


Monopoly

by AgreedEquation



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Banter, M/M, hints of James Taylor/Chris Woakes/Steven Finn, shits and giggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 18:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6250438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgreedEquation/pseuds/AgreedEquation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys play a game of Monopoly; Joe and Steve become archenemies and Jos is a bit of a whore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monopoly

“Hey!” Joe reaches out for the small dog token that is lying in front of Steve. “That’s mine.” He holds the piece of tin in his fist and glares at Steve. He is always the dog, everybody knows that.

“No, I took it first, I’m the dog.” Steve shakes his head and wraps his long fingers around Joe’s wrist. “Give it back.” He pulls at Joe’s arm, but the other man doesn’t let go. “Joe.”

Joe holds the dog in a tight fist. No way is he going to give back the dog. “It’s my game, so my dog.”

“Everybody knows I love dogs the most, so I should have it.”

Jos rolls his eyes and sighs. They haven’t even started playing and two of them are already fighting. This is not going to end well. “Come on, Joe, just give him the dog.” He nudges Joe’s side and hopes that he will listen to him.

“No.”

“Joe.”

“No.”

James, sitting at the other side of the table, holds out his hand. “Give it to me. We’ll put it back in the box, no one will be the dog. Joe can be the racecar and Finny, you can be the top hat, okay?” He gives Joe his best bitchface, letting him know that he will not take no for an answer.

“Fine.” Joe gives the token to James, but not before sticking his tongue out at him first. “I’ll be the stupid racecar. If I lose, it’ll be your fault, Taylor.”

Jos nudges Joe again. “Play nice or we’re not playing at all.” He takes the racecar out of the box and puts it in Joe’s hand. If he didn’t love Joe as much as he did, he would never put up with this.

“I’ll be the bank,” Chris announces, already distributing the money. He knows Joe probably wanted to be the bank too, but he also knows Joe has a tendency to steal money from the bank, so it’s better to take away that opportunity from the get-go. He quickly gives 1,500 pounds to each of them. “Alrighty then, ready to go,” he announces once each of them has their money and a token. Chris is the wheelbarrow, Jos the battleship and James the thimble.

“I’m the youngest, so I begin.” Joe picks up the dice and rolls them before anyone can argue that according to the rules, that’s not how it’s decided who gets to go first.

“Aren’t we supposed to roll the dice and whoever scores the highest goes first?” Steve asks, raising an eyebrow. Whatever happens in this game, he will do everything to prevent Joe from winning.

“Just let him begin, Finny.”

“But, according to the rules-” James presses his hand against Steve’s mouth to stop him from talking. “Shut up or we’re never going to able to start. Move your car, Joe.”

A smug smile appears on Joe’s face; victory number one, he thinks to himself. He looks at the dice: a three and a two. His token ends up on the Maryleborne Station, which he buys. “The game is on!” He happily accepts the deed from Chris and hands over the dice to Jos.

Jos rolls the dice and ends up on the chance square and draws a card from the orange deck. “Speeding fine, fifteen pounds,” he reads and sighs. “Great.” He takes a ten and a five pound note and gives it to Chris who puts it in the bank.

“Aww, Jos.” Joe places his hand on Jos’ lower back and rubs his thumb in little circles. “Don’t worry. If you can’t win, you can always be my trophy wife.” He kisses Jos’ cheek, a mischievous grin playing on his lips.

“Guys, we’re here for the game, not to watch you smooch,” Chris says, rolling his eyes at the couple.

The game goes on without much trouble for a while, until Jos’ battleship ends up on Oxford Street. Joe who is already in possession of the other two green properties, looks at him with pleading eyes. If Jos buys it, then he can sell it to Joe. If Jos doesn’t buy it, someone else probably will get it before he can get his hands on it. The only problem is that Jos is really low on money. Oxford Street costs 320 pounds and he has only 400 left.

“What if,” Joe starts, picking up a pink 500 pound note. “I give you this to buy Oxford Street. You give Oxford Street to me, you can keep the change and your first visit to one of my future hotels will be on the house.”

Steve instantly shakes his head. “Don’t do it, Jos. You’ll screw all of us if you do.”

James, proud owner of all the yellow properties agrees with Steve. He is in a very strong position right now, but if Joe gets his hands on that third green property, things might go downhill pretty quickly.

“And,” Joe starts again and leans closer to Jos. He whispers something in Jos’ ear, making sure the other three can’t hear him.

“Okay,” Jos replies, his cheeks suddenly flustered. “Deal.”

“You whore,” James says. “I don’t know what he’s promised you to do, but I better hope it’s worth betraying us for.”

Jos looks at James with a cheeky little grin. “It is.”

Chris doesn’t really care who gets the green property; he’s fucked either way. He’s only got the Waterworks, the Electric Company (“Chris, seriously, no one ever buys those, they’re a waste of money,” Steve had told him, but he had bought them anyway), Whitechapel Road (brown), Euston Road (light blue), Northumberland Avenue (pink) and King’s Cross Station. There is no way he is going to win this. Without any streets, he can’t build houses or hotels and he has already lost most of his money.

It is clear that either Joe, Steve or James is going to win. Jos never stood a chance either, his softness towards Joe allowed Joe to regularly ‘lend’ money from him or talk him into swapping properties. So he is out of money _and_ useful properties. Jos only owns Marylebone Station, The Angel Islington (light blue), Marlborough Street (orange), Bow Street (orange) and Liverpool Station.

Joe however the proud owner of all the green squares now, Mayfair (dark blue) and Whitehall (pink). Steve is not in the strongest position, but he still has a chance because he owns all the red properties and has already built two hotels and three houses on them. Aside from those, he also owns Pentonville Road (light blue), Vine Street (orange) and Park Lane (dark blue).

After Joe, James is in the strongest position, owning all the yellow properties, Old Kent (brown), Pall Mall (pink) and Fenchurch Station. Now that Joe owns all the green properties, the real game can begin. From now on it’s about who manages to make the most money to keep up with the game.

“Thanks, Jos.” Joe kisses Jos on the lips and takes the Oxford Street deed from him. “Best boyfriend in the world. When you’re bankrupt, you can play for me. Blow on the dice before I roll them for good luck,” he tells him and neatly places the deed next to his others.

“Are you really letting him talk to you like that?” Steve asks, raising an eyebrow.

“He just said I’m the best boyfriend in the world,” Jos points out with a smile. He really doesn’t care about who wins or loses the game, but he does care about the smile on Joe’s face. He knows Joe is a sore loser and he will do everything to prevent having to deal with a moody Joe. “And he’s rich,” he adds, point at Joe’s money.

“Jos, stop talking and Chris roll the dice,” James says, pushing the dice towards Chris. “The faster we eliminate you and Jos, the faster the _real_ game can begin.”

“The Titch Bitch is in the house,” Joe says and slings his arm around Jos. He knows he’s not playing fair, but he wants to win _so badly_. “We’re going to take you down. While you’re a poor man, living on the streets, Jos and me will be living the good life. Eating caviar, drinking champagne and all of that.”

“Guys, it’s just Monopoly,” Chris points out. He wants the game to end so he can go back to his room and have a quiet cup of tea. He picks up the dice and rolls them. Seven. He ends up on Steve’s Fleet Street, which has three houses on it.

Steve grins and sticks his hand out. “That’ll be 700 pounds, please,” he tells Chris, eyeing what little money Chris had left. He might just about scrape together those 700 pounds. “You boys are going down!”

“I still have to pass Titch’s and Joe’s street. I’ve got only ten pounds left,” Chris tells the others and sighs after he’s given Steve most of his money. “Can’t I just give up already?” he asks, looking at the other men. He really wants that tea.

“Oh, come on, Chris!” Titch replies, leaning against his friend’s arm. “Don’t give up yet! Maybe your waterworks or electric company will pay off. You’ve got both, it can bring in a bit of money,” he says, hoping that Chris will stay. He likes having Chris around, he’s a calming presence and he’s quite sure that that presence is the only thing keeping Steve and Joe from fighting each other (Joe still looks at the dog token in the box every once in a while, pouting). “And if you want, you can play with me when you go bankrupt. Not only Joe is entitled to a trophy wife. You can be my good luck charm.”

Chris smiles and nods, the blush on his cheeks a bit more red than usual. “But I will get us some tea when I’m finished.” He hands the dice over to James, still smiling.

One round later, both Jos and Chris have been eliminated from the game. Jos has his arm hooked around Joe’s and is leaning against him, happy that he no longer has to suffer through the game. He’s much more content just watching. Chris has made everyone a cup of tea and things have calmed down again.

At least for fifteen minutes, until James ends up on Joe’s Oxford Street (now with a hotel on it) for the third time in only a couple of rounds. Neither Joe nor Steve had paid his yellow street a visit so he was running out of cash. “I don’t have enough money,” he tells Joe, handing him over all the money he has. “Sorry, Chris, no rich husband for you,” he tells his friend, giving him a little nudge in the side.

“You can both be my wives now.” Steve grins and gets up from his chair. “Move over so I can sit in the middle,” he tells James. It’s between him and Joe now, he’s going to need all the luck he can get. “You can throw the dice for me,” he tells Chris as he drapes his left arm around Chris’ shoulder. “And you can be my account manager.” He turns to James and drapes his right arm around his shoulder. “The game is on, Joe.”

“You and your wives don’t scare me, Finn,” Joe says, shaking his head in amusement. Things are getting pretty ridiculous, but he’s having a good time. With James’ properties back for sale now, it’s all about who gets to them first. Owning another complete street would guarantee a victory.

In the end, Steve ends up with two of the yellow properties, but Joe gets the third one. Joe reckons that’s okay because his street is the most expensive one. After Jos’ bankruptcy, Steve had managed to get his hands on both the orange cards, but Joe refuses to trade his orange property for the yellow one. He’s not stupid. So they just carry on, all the properties have been divided between Joe and Steve, so it’s just a matter of throwing dice and paying if necessary. It doesn’t take that long for Joe to get ahead in the game. The hotels on Joe’s green properties are too expensive for Steve and after a couple more rounds, he has to admit that he’s losing.

“Chris, Titch,” Steve starts and then he sighs. “I have some bad news for you. We’re going to have to live on the streets and I won’t be able to buy you the pretty clothes you both deserve.” He leans his head against Chris’ and picks up his top hat token. “You win, Joe.” He drops the token in front of Joe. He hates that he has lost, but he is not a sore loser. He will not let Joe get the better from him. “Congratulations.”

Joe’s eyes light up and his smile widens. “Hah! I knew I would win!” Even though Steve has taken his defeat with grace, Joe will not take the win in the same manner. He sticks out his tongue and cackles loudly.

“Joe,” Jos gently nudges Joe. “Be nice.”

“But I won! _We_ won,” Joe replies, pointing at all of his money and his deeds. “Everything is mine now!”

Jos shakes his head in amusement. Being around Joe sometimes felt like dealing with a seven-year-old. “You did, but you can be nice about it.”

Joe shrugs his shoulders in response. “I could.” He turns in his seat and puts an arm around Jos’ shoulder, pulling him closer. “Now, I think I made you a promise earlier,” he says, a grin appearing on his face.

Jos quickly turns to face the three men at the other side of the table. “The three of you, out,” he says, pointing at the door. “I have a reward to collect.” His hand sneaks underneath Joe’s shirt and rests on the small of his back.

“Quickly, before they get going while we’re still here,” Steve says, getting up and urging Chris and James to do the same. The three of them quickly make their way to the door.

Joe looks at them as they leave and swears he sees Steve’s hand dipping down Chris’ back until it reaches his arse. He frowns as he watches them leave. “Do you think they’re doing it?”

“Who? Chris and Steve?”

Joe shrugs his shoulders. “Or Chris and James. Or James and Steve. I don’t know, maybe the three of them together. They seem so close lately.”

Jos rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Get your mind out of the gutter, will you?” he says and wraps his arms around Joe. “Well, maybe not. Just stop thinking about them and start thinking about what we’re going to do.”


End file.
